Subject: What's The Difference Between Rhythm and Timing?
You are getting this e-mail because you subscribed to it on www.learn-to-play-rock-guitar.com. If you don't want to receive these e-mails any longer, go to the bottom of this message and click on "unsubscribe." Hey there Friend, First off, I want to apologize for not getting this out sooner. We had a family emergency and are slowly getting back to somewhat normal life. Thanks for your patience.Very early in the process of learning guitar, we start wanting to play songs. Is there really any other reason to play guitar? Most of us have strummed the strings whether we knew how to play a chord or not - we just kind of imitate what we've seen on TV or Youtube. But clearly, just strumming the strings doesn't help us play that first song. We have a little learning to do first. In the last email, we talked about learning chords as one of the main approaches to starting our guitar journey, and with chords comes strumming. It's like peanut butter and jelly, peaches and cream, spaghetti and meatballs. They just go together. So we learn a few chords, put on our favorite song and start playing along. Maybe (hopefully) it's got a nice simple rhythm and the strum is a basic down / up movement without too much complexity. Great, hey this guitar thing isn't so hard! Unfortunately, not every song out there has that simple down / up strum pattern. Sooo, we need to learn how to vary the down-strum and the up-strum. Ya know, mix it up and have a little variety. That's when things start to get a little more complicated. You see, there's another little aspect we haven't talked about yet. In order to play a song well, you have to know how to follow the rhythm, that is, the beat of the song. But you also need to be very aware of timing. Timing is is not the tempo. Tempo is the speed of the beat. For example, "Almost Easy" by Avenged Sevenfold (Explicit Version) has a relatively fast tempo at 176 beats per minute (BPM), versus a song like "Dazed and Confused" by Led Zeppelin at about 60 BPM. You definitely want to practice and get good at following the rhythm and tempo of the songs you're playing. But timing is the act of staying "in time" with the beat of the song. What I mean is, when you are strumming your guitar and changing chords, your strums need to be in line with the beat. Every time. If the song calls for a down-strum on the beat, you hit it on the beat. If it calls for palm muting on every other beat, your picking hand is almost robotic in its precision. This is timing, and to be considered really good (on guitar, that is), your timing has to be impeccable. Depending on how your timing is in the beginning, You can usually tell when you aren't playing in time. As you get better, it becomes increasingly easy to know when your timing is off. This is because your ear (how you listen) gets better the more you use it. A surefire way to know how well you play in time is to record yourself practicing with a metronome. Better still is to use recording software that shows beat marks based on the time signature of the track you're recording. As you record your playing (with a metronome), you will b able to see exactly how your timing is. Do you lead the beat (play a little before it) or do you miss it by a hair? Maybe you do both. Most of the best guitarists in the world spent years perfecting their timing. Recording yourself gives you a great baseline to rate your playing and figure out what you need to work on. This detail work is one of the dividing lines that separates the pro-wannabees with the true professionals. Have you taken the time to evaluate your timing? Personally, I tend to anticipate the beat a bit and strum a little too soon. I encourage you to spend a little time this weekend and record yourself. You can download Audacity (open source) for nothing and give it a try. Here's a list of features for you to check out. Have a great weekend, and Rock on! Peace~ Dave Dave "Eddie" Vance is a rock guitar enthusiast and gear nut. He has been playing guitar for over 30 years and enjoys tormenting the neighbors every chance he gets. When he's not slaving for the man, you can find him rocking out with his B.C. Rich Bich guitar, a cold beer and some sweet tunes. He also runs Learn-To-Play-Rock-Guitar.com, but you knew that already! Follow Learn To Play Rock Guitar:I welcome your feedback! Did you like today's message? What other topics would you like to see covered in my e-mails? Please let me know at: dave@learn-to-play-rock-guitar.com As always, please feel free to forward this email to a friend! I review products before recommending them. If you buy a product based on my recommendation, I will receive a commission. However, my emails also contain links that don’t require any investment on your part and are jam-packed with "juicy, guitar learnin' tastiness". We don't rent or share your name with anybody. Feel free to forward this issue to any friends you think would enjoy its contents. They will thank you. So will I.
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